ARA: Should our cleaning lady have paid personal and sick days?

I have a cleaning person who has worked for me for many years. I have always given her generous holiday gifts-cash, jewelry etc. This summer I gave her an air conditioner for her apartment.

I never cancel her, but she has sporadically cancelled or asked to reschedule. I never give her a hard time about it.

I do not give her paid personal or sick days. I have also raised her salary a few times. I know paid personal and sick days would be the right thing to do, but its always been difficult for me to justify mainly because I have only had one job in my lifetime where I received those benefits.

If I don’t work, I don’t get paid. I would like to hear from people in similar situations, please.

Kristi responds: A cleaning person — one who doesn’t live with you — is like an independent contractor. If he or she does not work, they should not get paid.

There are places she could work in her field (large hotels, janitorial companies) and receive benefits, but your house is not a corporation, nor is she there every day.

25 Responses

No sick or personal days for my cleaning lady who comes every two weeks (love it!) but she’s been with me for several (5?) years and this year I plan to tip her for the holiday with 2X her regular wage (in addition to just paying her). What do others tip?

I think there are some other issues you might want to consider, i.e., if she considers herself a regular employee and what would happen if she was injured. That is one of the reasons I would not want a “standing order” situation.

I agree, no sick/personal days in this situation but strongly disagree with the reason. “its always been difficult for me to justify mainly because I have only had one job in my lifetime where I received those benefits.” I’m sorry if that has been the case, but if it were a full time position like a nanny for which sick/personal days are the norm, you couldn’t get away with that excuse. You would have to provide market salary/benefits to keep someone.

No. And make sure to explain this to your cleaning lady. She is NOT, repeat NOT your employee. She is an independent contractor. As soon as you start offering such benefits to her, the IRS may determine she is, indeed, a household employee of yours and as such, would demand you pay FICA on her earnings and withold Federal and State income taxes. And NY state would demand you pay worker’s compensation and NY state disability insurance, just as you would for any employee.

PS – Do not refer to what you pay her as “salary”. That is not the appropriate term given your business relationship with her. You pay her a fee for her cleaning services. Anyone I would hire in my home, I would also make sure that they have the appropriate insurance for the type of work they are doing. I would not allow anyone to work in my home without their own business liability insurance policy.

Actually, the conclusion that this person is an independent contractor is not necessarily correct. If she has her own business, then yes, she probably is one. But if she only works for this one Reader, then that is another story. However, even if she is an employee, an employer does not have to give an employee sick or personal days. it is not required by law. The Department of Labor has FAQs on the website addressing these issues.

The only time I would say such benefits would be remotely necessary is if she is in your house 5 days a week. A friend of mine used to nanny in NY five days a week full time, and she had paid sick and vacation days (no health benefits though).

I can’t believe this is even a question. WHY on earth would you even consider this? If she doesn’t show up – she doesn’t get paid. That’s like saying if your hair dresser cancels on you because she is sick – then you still pay her for no haircut!

Sounds ridiculous. Right?

And I must say that you are very generous with your gifts. An AC for her?? Jewlery? Wow. I think that a gift card or an extra $50 is more than enough.

I concur, in the past when I could afford the extra help it was pay as you go. No committments, she didn’t show, I didn’t pay her. You sound like you are more than generous, and there’s a good chance you aren’t her/his only client. Mine had several, and sometimes she had to juggle her schedule to meet the demands of her other clients…..

Is this person full time?? If so, then I think you should give her sick/personal time. It doesn’t have to be a lot, but if you can afford a full time housekeeper, then you can afford a week or two of paid sick time. It’s the right thing to do.

If she just comes once every couple of weeks, then no, you don’t have to do sick time.

#7 is right! Independent contractors should be given the appropriate tax form at the end of the year. (Is it a 1099?). What does happen if she injures herself at your home? (ie check your homeowner’s insurance policy–it may include or exclude employees or independent contractors) Whatever you do, keep her off ladders-that is a virtual retirement policy if she falls from one! :-)

And #9 is right too….your generosity is making the rest of us look Scrooge-like.(smile) Our holiday tip is equal to at least one but not more than two cleaning visits….no regular tipping unless they do an extraordinary job or I’ve expanded the scope of their work one week.

No one is ever required to provide personal or sick time to an employee… period! If you want to be overly generous and pay her for no show days, that is entirely up to you. But you are not required to do so.

Um, people you have to keep in mind that if this person is a full-time housekeeper and this is the only house she works at, then she would be considered a household EMPLOYEE. Therefore, paying her sick time and vacation days would be the LEAST this employer would have to do as far as the IRS and NY State income tax is concerned. We’re talking about paying FICA and filing employee wage reports, the whole nine yards here for a household employee. There’s a lot of financial and reporting responsibilities that come with hiring household employees. That’s why so many people get into trouble with this because they don’t always follow the rules.

However, this does not sound like that kind of situation. It sounds like this person might come once a week or every two weeks and since she has to reschedule occasionally, it sounds like she cleans other houses, as well. That would be the definition of someone who owns their own cleaning business, so is therefore a subcontractor working for this homeowner. There is no middle ground here. The tax authorities would classify this cleaning person as either a subcontractor or an employee. There’s no other option. And offering her generous gifts or days off would only muddy the waters here, and not in a good way for the homeowner. The homeowner, as I said before, needs to clarify this issue immediately with the cleaner so she does not find herself in a situation where, let’s say, the cleaning woman falls and gets hurt in her house and then tries to file for a worker’s comp claim against the homeowner saying she’s their employee. This happens to people.

You’ve been extremely nice to your cleaning lady. I agreed with Kristi’s response even before I read it. I had that same thought in my head as I was reading your situation.

If the cleaning lady is not at your house, she shouldn’t get paid. For example, if my dad doesn’t show up for work, he doesn’t get paid- he’ll get fired! Don’t worry. My dad goes to work and so does my mom every day.

Wow, Strick9…you’re very thorough. I did not think of all the sides of this position. Thanks for the insight! I too do not think she should receive sick/vacation pay. I’m an independent contractor and do not get paid if I don’t work. With that knowledge, I figure out when my vacations will be and plan well ahead for them.

You all could be in trouble being an “employer” for such things as Social Security Taxes and the myraid number of New York State Employee taxes, you know the ones that keep jobs away from New York…

That aside, unless you have a “contract” stipulating such items you owe your employee nothing…

If your were smart I would set up your employee as an “Independent Contractor” thereby absolving you of all the potential legal and financial problems..Your employee could actually “twist your arm” a bit by suggesting the above items via visiting a certain State Office….

So, I have a part time cleaning business. I have about 10 customers presently, most I work for every other week and they all pay around $75 for my service. They do not nor would I ever ask them to pay me for a sick day if I didn’t show up. They don’t employ me, I am self employed. All are generous at Christmas, usually I am given a week’s salary as a bonus. Two are VERY generous and give me $300 and $400 for a bonus… totally not necessary, but very nice. I appreciate it. I will say that I NEVER cancel… you can set your watch by me and I have toyed with the idea of charging customers if they cancel on me as it can be a pain in the a** to alter my schedule. But, all are long time clients and I would feel bad doing that.

That being said, I also work part time (25-30 hours) in an office and don’t have sick or holiday pay. This I would like to change…

How about for the opposite – if I cancel on my cleaning lady am I responsible (ethically or otherwise) to pay her for the time?

I cancelled on my cleaning lady last week because I was sick, and I did it on short notice. It occured to me that we never laid down those ground rules, but I know she wouldn’t turn down the cash(interesting how the ethics problem is all mine).

I’m torn… this is her livelihood and without enough notice to line something else up, she’s been short-changed. Thoughts?

Like every business arrangement, it’s open to negotiation. And you usually get what you pay for. Our housekeeper works twice a week, about half day each depending on what needs to be done. Been with us 12 years. Needless to say, we ‘re happy with her. She cleans for our home, laundry, etc with care. She’s helped us move. In emergencies, she house/ pet sitted. Yes, there have been times, we’ve had to work things out but really, the problem was more ours as we needed to be clear about a few things. She’s had a few opportunities to take a vacation and so we paid her gladly and tried to keep up things while she was away. Why? Because for us, it seemed fair and like all of us, it’s good to have some time away. And we think the investment pays off in the long run. We give a little extra at Christmas and once in a while a little extra for for a special need. When she’s sick we don’t pay her but this is rare. If we’re on vacation, she knows there isn’t much to do so she doesn’t expect to work the whole time and be paid. There’s mutual respect and it works out for both of us as fair. She’s quit jobs where the people wanted a lot for nothing. Reading some of the comments here, it seems some people want cheap and they get cheap. Just be fair and respectful and ask it to be mutual. If not you both should move on.

For the Real Doris. In the case of you needing to cancel last minute because you were sick, I think the issue here is did this put her in a big financial burden? Remember many of these people have less than we do and cannot weather cancelations. Well paid doctors still charge for last minute cancelations. For some ladies, they relish the day off. You will still have a dirty house and so you might offer her to make the lost day up layer. Showing care and respect to those who care for us always goes the long way if one is able.

It is my belief there are actually laws in place which protect people who visit your house on a weekly/routine basis. I forget the term, but it’s a weekly implied employment. Last I heard, that also includes compensation for injuries, sick time, etc. If you commit to a weekly routine, I believe there’s an implied employment situation, but I’m not sure.